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Republican Rand Paul, a Tea Party favored candidate, is leading his Democratic opponent Jack Conway by 5 points among likely voters, 45 percent to 40 percent, in the Kentucky race for a U.S. Senate seat, a Reuters/Ipsos poll said.

Many voters in Kentucky, 53 percent, were unaware of the recent reports about Paul’s involvement in apparent pranks while he was a student. A GQ headlined “Rand Paul’s Kooky College Days” article described escapades including trying to force a woman to bow at a creek to a god called “Aqua Buddha” and smoke marijuana.

A small number of Republicans, 12 percent, said those stories made them MORE likely to vote for the son of two-time Republican presidential contender Ron Paul.

Of those who had heard about the alleged incidents at Baylor University, 57 percent believe they were exaggerated or fabricated and 28 percent think there is some truth to them. Those views didn’t follow straight party lines, with 40 percent of Democrats saying the incidents were exaggerated and 14 percent of Republicans saying they were true.

President Barack Obama’s ratings were negative in Kentucky, with 55 percent disapproving of the way he is handling his job compared with 44 percent approving.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell fared better than Obama, with 50 percent approving of the way he is doing his job as senator and minority leader.

As a proud Kentuckian, I believe we’re going to be better off with more conservative “crackpots” and fewer progressive crack-heads like Barney Frank, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Barak Obama et al. United We Stand, Divided We Fall.

Author Profile

Toby covers national security. She used to run the Front Row Washington politics blog, was a White House correspondent during President George W. Bush's second term, and has covered intelligence, defense, foreign policy, and Congress. As Dallas correspondent she covered the stand-off in Waco. Early years in New York were spent covering financial markets and New York Fed.